


Somewhere Only Bigfoots Know

by owl_coffee



Category: Where Are You Now Patty - Lenny Green (Song)
Genre: Bigfoot - Freeform, Cryptozoology, F/F, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fuzzy family feels, Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, Sasquatch, no really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21759418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owl_coffee/pseuds/owl_coffee
Summary: Do you still go down to Bluff Creek, where the cowboys came that day?
Relationships: Patty/Female Bigfoot
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Somewhere Only Bigfoots Know

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetcarolanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/gifts).



Patty was bolder than the others, sometimes venturing down near to the human camp-ground while Sniff anxiously waited for her higher up the slopes. She was still cautious, moving quietly despite her large size, avoiding the tell-tale snap of branches and the rustle of leaves. At night her eyesight was keener than a human's, and she loved to see what she could find that had been left behind by them as the season for their visiting her mountains came to an end. Today, the haul was a special one: a cloth container that still had something in it, half-buried under fallen leaves. No-one would be returning for this one, she was sure. She picked it up carefully and carried it back, restraining the urge to investigate it immediately. It felt light, but sturdy, held together by some sort of fastening.

Sniff panted a greeting as she got closer, her face drawn in a grin of fear. Her mate hated it when Patty raided the human sites, and always made her discomfort known, but couldn't quite seem to leave her to it. Patty held up the container in triumph, and Sniff shrugged. She didn't seem to see the appeal of most of the odd items Patty found, and in her view the food finds were too risky to be worthwhile. After a quick grooming session to reassure Sniff, her fingers walking through the fur of Patty's left shoulder, they got ready to return home. Together, they made their way back to their closest den, a vertical steep vertical climb that made it a little tricky to hang onto the container. Patty gripped it between her teeth as she hauled her way up the slopes, hoping and wondering about what would be inside. Through the cloth she thought she could smell food, but it was muffled with the other scents of car-exhaust and the metallic smells that humans carried around with them.

Soon it would be time to huddle down for winter, hibernating their way through the worst of the weather in a warm nest. Patty hoped there might be something interesting in the container to amuse Graa, too. He couldn't sleep as deeply as the adults could and was often restless and squabbling when they were stuck in their winter quarters. About half the size of an adult Bigfoot, he had passed the stage of clinging to her fur constantly and was always up and about causing mischief and getting into everything. He was waiting for them at the mouth of the cave, hooting energetically when he saw them both coming back. Sniff hugged him and gave him a firm lick, cleaning the side of his face nicely while he squirmed with half-hearted protest. He'd wanted to come along on this evening's expedition too, but Sniff had absolutely refused, cuffing him away when he kept clamouring to come along. He had never seen a human before, and certainly wasn't old enough to behave with the right caution yet.

Patty investigated the container carefully. It was made from some sort of tan cloth, fastened together in a way she hadn't seen before. Experimentally, she tried pulling the edges of the cloth apart to see if it would snap into two pieces, but it seemed solidly stuck. She huffed with annoyance. Trying to pull it from another angle, she accidentally broke one of the black doo-dads on the cloth strips off, but that didn't seem to get her any closer to finding out what was inside the main pouch.

Attracted by the movements, Graa escaped from his grooming session with Sniff and came to see what she was doing. He leaned in closer to the container, fascinated, clearly trying to smell the contents. Patty held it up, offering, and he gave a tug at the sides too, repeating the motion she'd made. He looked up at her disappointed when nothing happened. After a little while watching Patty try different ways to open it, he grew bored and wandered back to Sniff, who was picking grubs out of the nesting bark they'd gathered earlier and absent-mindedly eating them.

Patty couldn't get any further with the container at all, and by the time it came for them to rest, she was immensely frustrated. Sniff made a come-here gesture by the nice new nest of bark and dried leaves, but even as she settled down to sleep she was still thinking about it. Sniff nuzzled Patty's fur, warm breath blowing across the back of her neck, and Graa curled up in her arms, but all she could think about was the darned cloth container. It was too tough to tear with her teeth, either - that was the next thing she'd tried. What was the point of raiding human sites if she couldn't even find something useful? Blowing out a frustrated breath, Patty settled into an uneasy doze.

The next morning she was no closer to an answer to the conundrum. The family made their way together down to a more remote site, a steep slope leading from the mountain heights down to a creek below where they got water when staying in this area. Around them, fallen trees threw up huge tangled roots which had to be clambered around, relics of the fierce flood a few seasons ago. Graa had been a little fuzzy armful at that time, and she'd had to hide away with him up in a sheltered nest in one of the higher stands of woodland, hoping the trees there were sturdy enough not to be blown down by the winds. The flood had changed the course of the river, opening up this creek area for them to use. There was a nice shallow area to drink from, and aside from the awkward grey boulders the flood had left behind, it was a very good place. The crystal clear water rushed gently over the creek bed and the trees bent over it as if they were trying to embrace their reflections. In warmer seasons it was a nice spot to bathe and get rid of any skin irritations or pesky parasites. But at this time of year the family just dipped their hands into the chilly water and sipped the fresh cold creek to quench their thirst. 

Graa got bored of playing in the creek after a while and wanted to climb a tree. Ever since he had found a bee's nest one summer he was ever-hopeful that the next climb could be a honey bonanza. Patty didn't have the heart to dissuade him, though she knew it was a slim chance of finding anything. He was still light enough to climb trees easily. He might as well enjoy it. All but the oldest and sturdiest pines couldn't easily bear Patty's weight, now that she was her full adult height. Sniff enjoyed making nests from the lower branches and eating pine cones, but didn't see the point of climbing either. She and Patty stayed browsing along the banks of the creek idly, hoping for fish. It was a good trick to be able to catch a fish in your hands. Sniff was best at it, she was the most patient. Urff had started catching them with a pointed stick, but Patty couldn't quite get the knack of that yet. She would have to watch him again more closely when they next came across Hawwa's group.

Sniff carefully stood still in the creek, staring intently at the water. She had already managed to catch a small trout in her hands, biting the back of the wiggling fish to still it and tossing it over to Patty. That would be delicious later. Just then, Patty could make out a sound coming closer on the fringes of her hearing, like deer hooves drumming against the ground but a little more forceful, as if a larger creature was making it. Could it possibly be wild horses? They'd never seen any in this area before. Sniff grunted alarm and retreated into the treeline to keep a closer eye on Graa just in case. Patty stayed by the banks of the creek, watching for what was to come.

The things which emerged from the trees on the other side of the creek were totally unexpected. Humans, atop horses, dressed in some sort of hunting gear. One of them yelled something, and the other one pointed - right at her! Patty was torn between the impulse to run away and a strange curiosity. She'd never seen humans so close before. They were just across the creek from her. She could smell that they were both male, and young. The one nearest seemed to be having a difficult time with the horse he sat on, and seemed to want to point them both in the other direction. He had a foot tangled in some ropes across the horse's back. The other was still yelling and gesturing. They looked so strange with their naked pink skin, out of place in the forest. One of them opened up some containers attached to the horse by pulling a little stick across their seams. He got out something large and metallic and pointed it at her with shaking hands.

Her mate hooted her alarm from the trees, and Patty broke her gaze at the humans reluctantly. She had to get away, it wasn't safe to be this close especially with Graa nearby. If they could treat horses like servants, who knew what they'd do with a Bigfoot if they caught her? With big, confident strides she made her way back toward the forest. Looking back, she could see the human who'd had trouble with his horse had dismounted and was trying to chase after her. How dare he? This was her home, not his! She made a go-away gesture at him and widened her stride back into the forest. 

When she got back to the relative safety of the canopy, Sniff was so anxious she grabbed Patty's arm and immediately started to drag her away further into the trees. Patty had to pull back firmly and gesture her to wait to remember to call Graa down from the pine tree he was playing in. Sniff looked terrified, the whites of her eyes showing all around in her face. As they made their way hastily back up the mountain to a quieter place, Patty reflected that she should be scared too, but instead she mainly felt a buzz of excitement. She thought she knew how to open that container!

Back at the cave, Patty nuzzled Sniff and groomed her until they'd both calmed down from the encounter. Graa didn't understand what had happened, but was excited too, bounding back and forth with nervous energy he'd reflected from them. She soothed him with a tasty mouthful of some of the trout they'd caught before all of the excitement happened, plucking the little bones out of it delicately. While he ate she picked a few stray leaves out of his thick fur. His winter coat was coming in nicely now.

Sniff had stopped trembling but still looked at Patty uneasily. She whuffled encouragement to her, and Sniff sighed and got back into their nest to curl up. Patty remembered the container and picked it up gently. She looked along the seam for a little stick like the one the men had used. She found one at last, tucked away hidden against the seam. She pried it loose and then pulled at it with her fingers. At first it didn't want to do anything, but then all of a sudden it slid along and the side of the container opened, little metal teeth parting to reveal the hidden treasures within. A handful of shiny packets, a papery folding rectangle, and an assortment of colorful sticks and trinkets. Patty hooted with triumph. The shiny packets held something to eat, she could smell it. And the other little things looked like they would be fun for Graa to play with. Tearing open a packet with her teeth, she tasted the contents cautiously. It was a large dull brown rectangle with a flavour like nothing she'd ever encountered before. It was sweet like honey, filled with something deliciously gooey and as crunchy as fresh beetles. Patty broke off a piece and passed it to Sniff, then another for Graa as he jumped and clung to her shoulder. It stuck his teeth together for a moment and she laughed at him a little as he chewed and licked at it then begged her for more.

Patty hugged Sniff as they munched on the treats together. They couldn't venture back down to the creek until the humans had definitely gone, but that should be soon. With winter coming, the mountains would be theirs again at last.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a lot of fun to write! The idea of writing something fluffy & Bigfoot-related was such a delight I couldn't resist. I hope this fits your wishes, and a happy Yuletide to you!


End file.
